2017-03-21 Tue

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance” – Carl Sandburg

Poetry touches us all in different and profound ways. Christopher Fry couldn’t have been more right when he said: “Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement”. Poetry is indeed an elegant and graceful expression showing imagination and deep emotions. It can be sentimental, educational, inspirational and developmental. Through the artistic creativity of the poet, you can learn a lot about yourself and the world around!

Unlike books or lengthy articles, poems are shorter works of art which mean even the busiest person can make time to read a sonnet, a haiku or a ballad. A good poetry, in fact, will stretch your mind. Poetry is being produced by all known civilizations from ancient to modern times. Throughout the extensive history of poets and their works, poetry has addressed a vast array of topics including love, war, social issues, the beauty of nature, the love of God, etc.

To celebrate such a beautiful and powerful form of linguistic expression, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999 declared 21st March as World Poetry Day. The purpose of this day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world.

And when we are talking about poets and poetry, we just cannot ignore India and the legacy of India’s inspirational poets! From Maha Kavi Kalidas’ “Meghadoot” to Jaydeva’s “Geet Govind”, we have much graceful and romantic poetry. The social and educational change that a strong poetry brings about in the masses cannot be more evident than the inspirational ‘abhyangas’, ‘dohas’ and the ‘ovis’ of the saints of the Bhakti movement such as Sant Eknath, Meera bai, Surdas, etc. The historic poetries of the court-poets such as Ameer Khusru, Chand Bardai, Bannabhatta, etc are helpful in the constructing histories too.

The patriotic poems and songs too played a very important role in the independence movement of India. Muhammad Iqbal's’ “Zenda Uncha Rahe Hamara”, our beautiful national anthem “Jana Gana Mana” and national song” Vande Mataram” by Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay respectively still till date creates a deep felt sense of national pride within us.

Music has been a very integral part of Indian culture since a long time and today too we groove to the beautiful lyrics by Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar etc. So on this poetry day let’s read or listen to some of the beautiful works of art.

There are just so many stamps of Indian poets. View the stamps issued by the India Post here.